Chapter 11

"Come on now Nikki! You were helping me. I need your help. You're not going to leave me are you?" Harry asked.

Thomas winced. For the first time he felt a new sense of admiration for Leo Dalton. Had this been what the two of them had been like? Bickering like siblings, knowing each other so completely and emotionally manipulating each other to suit their own needs. How had Leo put up with it for all those years?

"You know how you felt in that box, helpless, stuck, just waiting for someone to get you out..."

Thomas was the first to notice the change in the stats on the monitors. "Be careful Harry!" He warned. Nikki's head began to move side to side, but she didn't reply.

"You felt trapped, didn't you? You wanted to get out…"

"Harry stop!" Nikki gasped. Struggling for air despite the size of the room.

"Nikki listen to me. Thomas, Jack and I are trapped. We're all here in this room and none of us can leave until you open your eyes and wake up! We're stuck here Nikki, just like you were. You are the one who can help us. We need to leave Nikki. Our time is running out. If you don't wake up properly soon and open your eyes, then we will miss our plane, and we will have to leave you here. You need to open your eyes Nikki!"

"But I can't!"

"Why can't you Nikki? You're not that tired. Eyelids only weigh a couple of grams. Come on Nikki, do it for me. Come on. Please?"

"I can't Harry, I won't. Why are you being so annoying today? Even Leo wasn't this annoying. He was at least helpful."

"Leo was helpful?" Harry asked. Thomas and Jack exchanged a look.

"It was Leo who remembered about the tetracynadine, he explained the toxology and the trade names. He was quite chatty. And then all of a sudden he turned his back on me, kept telling me to go back, but I didn't know where to go back to? I had nowhere to go. I wanted to follow him. I tried Harry, I chased after him; he pushed me away. I TRIED!" A new note of realisation coloured the tone of her voice. It was clear to the men listening that wherever she had been, her memories were settling, drifting into piles of reality and fantasy.

"Harry? I wanted to be with him. I wanted it over with. Harry! The waiting was awful." Nikki's pulse was racing, her voice thin and thready. Thomas instinctively reached out and held her hand, but even though he had hold of her hand physically he could feel that new closeness that they had recently established start to slip through his fingers.

"Ssh, Nikki. It's ok. I know Nikki, I know what you did." Harry soothed. "I saw. What did you find: rusty nail? Bit of wood? You didn't make a very good job did you?" Harry now scoffed.

"Don't laugh at me!" Nikki cried.

"I'm not laughing at you Nikki. Listen to me. I know you Nikki. If you had really tried, you and I both know you'd have gone for the brachial artery in the elbow. Far more efficient, you'd have bled out in minutes even with a rusty nail, so don't beat yourself up. You are a survivor Nikki Alexander. Leo knew that; that's why he wouldn't let you follow him. You did it Nikki. You survived."

"I miss him, Harry."

"I know, I miss him too."

There was silence for a moment. Thomas offered Nikki another drink, but her eyes remained shut fast. He checked his watch. They were running out of time, she was on her way back but despite his hold on her hand she was still too far out of their reach.


Apologies for the drug name, it's as close as I could make out, but either my hearing's failing or it's not a real name as I couldn't find it anywhere. If anyone is clever enough to give me the correct spelling, I'll be very grateful.